The International Program of the Harvard Medical School Center for Palliative Care, based in the Palliative Care Service at MGH, offers training and technical assistance in pain relief and palliative care to colleagues in low-income countries.

Our main focus since 2006 has been Vietnam, where we are assisting the Ministry of Health and major hospitals to integrate palliative care into the healthcare system. We also collaborate with colleagues in South Asia and Africa. We offer assistance with each of the WHO’s “four pillars” of national palliative care programs: policy, opioid availability, education, and implementation.

Palliative care relieves pain, other physical symptoms, and psycho-social distress of patients with cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other serious chronic illnesses. It thereby enhances the quality of life of both patients and their families. In our view, however, palliative care in resource-poor settings also should strive to improve access and adherence to disease-modifying treatments and promote disease prevention wherever these are not readily available. Conceived in this way, palliative care is an essential part of comprehensive care.

The International Program is directed by Eric Krakauer, MD, PhD., Assistant Professor of Medicine and of Global Health & Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.